San Jacinto College culinary arts students Aurielle Brager (North Shore) and Oliver Ortiz (Channelview) work on pastry creations as instructor Timothy Banks (center) supervises their project. The College is launching a new pastry chef program at the North campus. Photo credit: Rob Vanya, San Jacinto College marketing department.

Open house set for new pastry chef program

Rob Vanya, July 27, 2010

San Jacinto College (SJC) North’s culinary arts department will host a free open house to introduce its new pastry chef program.

The new program will offer classes at the North campus beginning in the Fall 2010 term, which begins Aug. 23. Registration for the Fall semester is now under way.

The pastry chef open house event will be held Aug. 11 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., in the Chablis dining room, located inside the Slovacek Student Center on the North campus at 5800 Uvalde Road in the North Channel area.

Various culinary activities are planned for the event. There will be a display of student culinary projects, and student ambassadors will present live food preparation demonstrations. “We will have a cupcake bar and an artisan bread demonstration, during which chefs will explain the nine stages of baking,” commented culinary instructor Timothy Banks. “Chefs will also demonstrate how to temper chocolate.”

Food and beverage items will be available for visitors to sample, including a variety of breads, pastries and desserts. The event is free and open to the public, but members of the North campus Culinary Club will sell beverages to attendees as a club fundraiser.

Steve Rudd, the North campus culinary arts department chair, will be on hand to provide information about the new pastry chef program. “We are excited to offer this new pastry chef program for students,” Rudd commented. “There is a high demand for well trained, creative pastry chefs, and the career field is challenging and rewarding. Students who enroll in the new program are in for a great learning experience.”

The official name of the new offering is Culinary Arts Pastry Chef Program, and two course options are available — a one-year occupational certificate, and a two-year associate degree .

“We’ve set up several new classes to represent the diverse needs of professional bakers, confectioners, and patissiers,” commented Banks, who has extensive experience in the pastry chef field. “The courses are Cake Decorating I, Cake Decorating II, Quantity Bakeshop Production, Bakery Practicum, Chocolates, and Confection Sugars.”

The program will include internships to provide students with valuable on-the-job training. In addition, students in the new program will learn the fundamentals of baking, plate presentation, food and beverage cost control, nutritional components of food and desserts, and basic supervisory skills.

Banks is uniquely qualified as a chef, with more than 15 years professional culinary arts experience. He has worked as an executive chef, a director of catering, and as a recipe research and development chef. He currently serves as director of the Houston chapter of the Texas Chefs Association, as an advisory board member for the Ford Culinary Foundation, and is a member of the Research Chefs Association.

Banks says the pastry chef field can be a rewarding career that offers good pay. “Our society continues to want quality artisan baked goods, and with local and organic offerings, and the demand for professional, skilled pastry chefs is ever growing,” he remarked. “Jobs at resorts, on cruise ships, in large-format grocery outlets, and in neighborhood bakeshops are just some of the career options available for well-trained pastry chefs. As people in our industry frequently say: ‘life is short, start with dessert.’”

Rudd created the curriculum for the new program along with other members of the North campus culinary arts leadership team. “We put together the new curriculum based on input from the North campus culinary arts advisory board,” Rudd remarked. “We are offering the new program due to anticipated high demand for educated, well-trained pastry chefs.”

San Jacinto College offers a wide range of culinary arts degree plans and course options at the North and Central campuses. The College serves a diverse population of more than 27,000 students in over 140 degrees and certificates in university transfer and technical programs. The College also serves the community through workforce training. Students come with various goals and aspirations and we are committed to their success. San Jacinto College. Your Goals. Your College.

For more information about San Jacinto College, please call 281-998-6150.